All Weimaraner owners and prospective owners, must know that the Weimaraner was first and foremost purpose bred to be a ‘versatile’ hunting dog and this affects his beautiful natural grey, sleek but muscular conformation and also his temperament and disposition.
The Weimaraner Breed Standard (of the Kennel Union of Southern Africa) states in the opening paragraph of, titled UTILISATION, the following:
‘According to his hunting purpose as a versatile hunting dog, the Weimaraner must possess all the talents required of him and be able to be used for all work in the field, wood and water, in a performance-oriented manner, before and after the shot.’
In the Weimaraner Klub, we therefore empathise together with the other two important focus areas of the Klub, ‘Breeding’ and ‘Conformation’ (which should be) correctly evaluated in the Show Ring for which purpose the ‘Showing’ of dogs was originated.
Because Weimaraners are a ‘purpose bred’ breed they are critical factors which may be overlooked only to the detriment of the breed, important facets of the fundamentals of the breed which rely on exposure to ‘field conditions’ as well as utilisation as a working, hunting dog.
This aspect of the relationship between dogs and humans goes back to the origins of the very ancient relationship between man and dog probably more than 40 000 years ago. With our Weimaraners we are and should be privileged to take forward this relationship.
There is a huge thrill to see and experience the team work between hunter and his Weimaraner, which has the innate capability to scent a potential quarry long before the hunter is aware of it, bring it to bay by going ‘on to point’ and then retrieving the quarry for the hunter after the shot (both on land and in the water) and even from a position which has not been ‘marked’ (or seen by the hunter) and bring it back to the hunters hand. It should be borne in mind that a dog has the capacity to scent up to 100 000 times better than a human hear ten times better and see four times better. This almost puts a dog in a different dimension than the human being. The combination of human and dog needs the experience and training to maximise the benefits of the relationship.
A Weimaraner may also be used to follow a scent trail left by a potential quarry or a ‘blood’ trail, to great effect.
The Klub places great importance on ‘field training’ and conducts and arranges training for dogs and their owners assisting in getting the ‘team’ ready for the field.
The Klub also arranges shooting competitions for dogs and handlers to test the skills. These are called “Shooting Ratings” and were specifically developed by the Klub (based on the American ‘Standards for Shooting Dog, Retrieving Dog, Versatile and Versatile Excellent Ratings) to ensure that the necessary skills were acquired to make effective partnerships in the field. The ‘Shooting Ratings’ are recognised by KUSA (Regulations for Shooting Ratings [Weimaraner] [inclusive of amendments effective 1st January 2019 [1st September 2008] TT) and the success of a dog in shooting rating tests entitles the owner to utilising the accreditations on the dog’s pedigree.
The categories are:
Novice Shooting Dog (NSD)
Novice Retrieving Dog (NRS)
Shooting Dog (SD)
Retrieving Dog (RD)
Shooting Dog Excellent (SDX)
Retrieving Dog Excellent(RDX)